May-June 2016_nobleed

the Pork issue

M y mother was the queen of potato salad. It was always on the menu for barbecues, fish fries, and Sunday family gatherings. As children, we called it “wet” potato salad because it was so moist with mayonnaise. Mama always told us that it was very important to cut the potatoes in chunks because she didn’t care for “mashed” potato salad. For many years, she made the homemade mayonnaise by hand. I remember sitting on my stool in the kitchen (or at the camp) watching her mash a hard-boiled egg yolk with a raw egg yolk in a shallow bowl, and adding drips of vegetable oil, a little at a time, and blending it with a fork until it was just the right consistency. She added just enough fresh lemon juice or white distilled vinegar, salt, black pepper, and a pinch of sugar to satisfy her taste buds. In later Pig Tales by Marcelle Bienvenu continued ...

years, she used what she called her “mayonnaise jar.”The quart-size jar had a lid that was inverted and had a small hole. A metal “plunger” fit through the hole. Then you could add a little oil to the lid. The oil dribbled into the egg yolks, and the plunger was moved up and down to mix the components.Wow! Even when we presented Mama with an electric mixer and a food processor, she chose to make her mayonnaise by hand! Before she mixed the mayonnaise with the boiled potatoes and chopped hard-boiled eggs, she always made a survey: Should we add chopped onions, celery, green olives, parsley, or sweet pickle relish? We would all yell “only a bit of parsley!” We didn’t want anything marring the taste of the salad!

Mama’s “Wet” Potato Salad Makes about 8 servings WHAT YOU WILL NEED 5 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed Rouses salt 8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped Rouses freshly ground black pepper Hot sauce Optional: ¼ cup minced celery ¼ cup finely chopped green onions 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley HOW TO PREP Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Remove from the heat and drain. Set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and chop coarsely. Put the chopped potatoes and eggs in a large serving bowl. Mama put them in layers, i.e., a layer of potatoes, a layer of eggs, sprinkles of salt and pepper, a dash of hot sauce, then continued the layering until all was used. Then add the mayonnaise and whatever condiments you wish and toss gently (so as not to break up the potatoes) to mix. Mama’s “Wet” Potato Salad Mama NEVER chilled the salad. The potatoes and eggs were at room temperature. The mayonnaise was chilled for about an hour or so, then immediately added to the salad right before serving.

photo by Eugenia Uhl

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY maY | JUNE 2016